


le baiser est le début du cannibalisme

by amber_grey



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence, I'll be updating the tags as I go along, M/M, Neil is a vampire in this one not Andrew, UMM this ends well but I put them through so much shit, Vampire AU, Writing violent material is a coping mechanism ok
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-16 08:40:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28828314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amber_grey/pseuds/amber_grey
Summary: Neil is a vampire desperately trying to figure out how to survive, Andrew is intrigued but doesn't want to be. Both of them are equally fucked.In other words, the horribly graphic and violent vampire AU that no one wanted or asked for except me.title is from a French philosopher and means 'kissing is the beginning of cannibalism'. - yes I'm aware how pompous that sounds. leave me alone, it's my graphic vampire au and I get to decide the title.
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 5
Kudos: 42





	le baiser est le début du cannibalisme

**Author's Note:**

> hiiii, welcome. there will probably be explicit violence and a whole load of trigger warnings needed here, please have a look before you start reading. also im not from America and cant be bothered to research anything, so this is just set in the pseudo America present in my brain. feel free to leave comments on the inaccuracies, or come shout at me @hope-stained-orange on tumblr. 
> 
> tws for this chapter:
> 
> implied violence  
> mild non-con / implied intent of prostitution  
> actual violence (he eats people, carol...) / gore  
> murder  
> arson  
> and uhhh car theft

Neil was fucking starving. 

The sun was fast falling below the clouds, bathing everything in a warm glow as the evening frost started setting in. He watched the swirling sky with a mild dread; if he didn’t move soon he might not be getting up at all. He allowed himself a second longer curled up under a tree in the dense copse by the side of the road before unfurling his knees from his chest and setting off to go sit on the metal barrier and wait for a car to pass. 

Eventually he made out the headlights of a car in the distance and raised his hand in a tired thumbs-up; his skin, he saw numbly, was so translucent his veins seemed raised and a deep blue. He must’ve given the driver quite a spook, a pale figure in loose, faded clothes with eyes that almost reflected the light back. The car came to a stop and the middle-aged woman in the driver’s seat rolled her window down; perfect, she probably wouldn’t say no. Or, he thought grimly, put up too much of a fight. Neil opened his mouth to ask for a ride when he noticed the child in the back seat, bundled in a baby chair and sleeping with their mouth open. Fuck. 

He still needed the ride, but he wouldn’t be getting a meal. 

“Good evening ma’am, would it be possible to ride with you until the nearest city? It doesn’t matter where you’re headed, I just need to find a motel for the night.” He let a slight drawl slip into the words, mimicking the local accent.  
He could see on her face she wasn’t sure about him – as much as he tried, he knew the vibes he gave off were strange, especially when hungry – but it was past midnight by that point and very cold. He gave off a little shiver and gripped his upper arms tighter.

“…No that’s alright dear. I wasn’t planning on stopping until morning, but there’s a town about thirty minutes away which should have somewhere for you to stay. Would that be alright?”

He let the relief show on his face as he thanked her and got into the passenger seat, slinging the duffel bag into his lap and closing the door softly. The forest edge and beyond looked twice as menacing from inside the car. 

The journey was silent, neither of them wanting to wake up the child in the back. Neil also didn’t think he could force himself to be coherent enough for small talk, and some of that probably showed on his face. 

A little sign wished them a ‘Welcome to Riverview’ just before they reached the outskirts of the town. A few minutes later they were both craning their necks looking for a motel sign when Neil saw one, a dusty yellow lit up from below and painted with the words ‘Desert Oasis’ and some forlorn palm trees. The building itself was a stucco beige and all the lights were off except what was presumably the reception. 

“Here’s fine ma’am, thank you so much,” he said, gesturing to it. She parked in front and he gave her the best smile he could manage before getting out. The child was still asleep. 

“Alright then, you stay safe, dear,” she said. Then she looked from him to the slightly run-down motel and seemed to hesitate.

“Are you sure here’s okay? It’s no trouble going a little farther.”

Neil struggled to keep the smile plastered on. He could hear at least two people asleep inside and was near salivating at the idea of an immediate meal.

“Yes ma’am. You’ve already been too kind, I really couldn’t take any more of your time. Have a safe trip.”

She drove off with a little wave and he went inside. There was no-one at the desk until he rang the little bell on the counter; according to the clock on the wall it was nearly 2am.  
A man smoking came out from somewhere within; Neil didn’t miss the way his eyes turned hungry when he saw a teenage boy alone, waiting for a room. 

“Hello, could I have a single room for the night please?” He tried to copy what he could remember of a Las Vegas accent. The man looked him up and down as if he wasn’t sure Neil could pay for it, cheap as the rates probably were. 

“Just you?” he asked, writing something down in the ledger. 

“Yes, just me.” Neil thought briefly about trying to figure out which of the other patrons to eat and promptly gave up. There was no point when someone was standing right in front of him who would be more than easy to coax into a room alone. He made a show of making eye contact, flicking his eyes to the guy’s lips and then back up. “Any chance you want to keep me company?” 

This wasn’t one of his better seductions, but who cared as long as it worked. The guy stopped to take a puff of his nearly burnt-out cigarette and look at Neil better, bracing his other hand on the desk.  
“Well, how could I refuse a face like that? I assume you won’t be wanting the room then.” He jerked his head at the ledger.

Neil looked back in what he hoped was a demure way; the cigarette smoke would have been cloying in the small room, but he didn’t mind it so much. His mother had smoked more. 

“How kind of you to offer. Lead the way?” 

The man snorted and turned back around through the door, Neil trailing behind him with his hand securely on his duffel bag. When they entered what Neil guessed was the man’s room, he noticed two things. First, the TV was on, and set to an exy match; the Tigers and the Coyotes were on mute but the score showed 3 to 5. Second, the man had a baseball bat by his nightstand, currently well within his reach. If Neil jumped him, he would probably have time to get to it. That meant Neil would have to be a little more delicate. 

He left his duffel bag by the door and shrugged off his coat, a faded green parka, placing it on top. Underneath, a washed-out grey t-shirt a few sizes too large hid most of the scarring on his torso; he had a knife in the back pocket of his jeans which the hem covered from view.  
Not that the man would have noticed; during all this he was leisurely sitting down at the small table near the TV and lighting up another cigarette. His eyes were on the TV the entire time, and his expression was mostly hidden from where Neil stood, but he made and angry noise when the Tigers scored despite the Coyotes lead.  
Neil came up behind him, leaning with his elbows on the back of his chair. 

“Coyotes fan?” he asked, leaning closer to him and putting his head on his shoulder. He couldn’t resist leaning a little into the guy’s neck when he heard his pulse. The guy seemed amused at this and turned his head slightly towards him before answering. Neil could hear the blood and felt himself salivating.

“Seeing as they’re my home team. You like exy?” 

Neil usually answered no, but this guy would be dead in a few minutes anyway, so he supposed there was no harm in indulging. Did this count as playing with your food?

“Yeah, I used to play it as a kid. Fan of the Aviators.” That last part was a lie, he only mentioned the Las Vegas team out of a deep-routed instinct to stick to whatever his current identity was.

“Oh really? They’ve gotten better in the past few seasons, but-“ 

Neil had had enough of this, he was starving and besides, he knew more than this guy about exy anyway. His left hand snaked around the other side of the guys throat and pulled it to the side. He nosed at the guys jaw as if he was going to kiss him before he opened his mouth and bit, hard, into the side of the guy’s neck. 

The blood started gushing out immediately; before the man had a chance to react Neil brought up his right hand holding the knife from his pant pocket and stabbed it into his eye up to the hilt, all the while sucking greedily at his neck. The man made a choked gurgle and his hands raised in an aborted effort to pull the knife out before they slumped back down. Neil left the knife imbedded in his eye socket to plant both hands on either side of the wound on his neck. 

The blood wasn’t the best and had the sour aftertaste of alcohol, but Neil hadn’t had a good meal in weeks. He’d nearly been desperate enough to try the local wildlife. 

He stood like that for what felt like minutes without pausing for breath, feeling the hot blood run down and sate his sore throat. Eventually he pried his teeth out and licked his lips, panting like he’d finished a marathon. He wiped his mouth with his hand and licked the blood left on the back of it off; using one hand to keep the eye in place, he pulled he knife out with the other one and wiped it on the guy’s shirt. 

Once he was done Neil stood up and stretched his arms above his head, giddy with satisfaction. He took a step backwards and collapsed onto the bed, more than ready to sleep for hours. Unfortunately, he couldn’t afford to stay for that long. Not only had the woman in the car dropped him off here after clearly seeing his face, but he had also gone after the owner and not some nameless passer-through. Said owner currently slumped dead in his room. 

He looked around the room for a few seconds before he spotted the black plastic curve of a car key. Bingo. 

Neil picked up the man over his shoulder, easy now that he’d eaten, and left him on the bed. He then took the liberty of taking a quick shower and raiding the guy’s fridge, negligible as it was mainly full of beer, and cupboards, appreciating the amount of noodle and macaroni packs he could stuff into his duffel bag. He shrugged his coat pack on and zipped it up, slinging the duffel over his head to test the weight. He pocketed the cigarettes left on the table, too. 

For the lack of anything better, he then rummaged a bit more until he found the guy’s stash of hard alcohol, comprised of several half empty bottles. He emptied a couple onto the edges of the curtains by the window before dumping the rest on the corpse. The TV showed 6-5, Tiger’s favour. How nice Neil had been, saving the guy from that disappointment.

He then picked up a box of matches on the kitchen counter and used a couple on the curtains and a couple on the man, working quickly and starting at the point furthest from the door so he didn’t end up trapping himself.  
Leaving the door open he walked out of the building and into the main parking lot. He pressed the button on the car key he’d swiped, but heard the beep from the other side of the building. Enough time had passed for the fire to spread, so he took a deep breath and shouted “FIRE! FIRE!” at the top of his lungs, in a high staccato he hoped sounded like a woman, waking up the other guests. Waiting a couple of seconds, he repeated the process to make sure before turning around and walking off to the back of the motel. 

Using the key again, he quickly located the car, an old Toyota with wrappers in the front seat. He grimaced and climbed in.  
\----  
Neil drove for about an hour before pulling up on the outskirts of Phoenix into an area mostly made up of warehouses. He had to ditch the car pretty soon, before they would notice it missing at the motel and suspect foul play. Pulling the spare tank of gasoline out of the boot, he prioritised dousing the driver’s seat and wheel in it before making a small trail leading away from the car and pulling out a box of matches. He set one alight and used it on the makeshift fuse, stepping back quickly. Neil watched himself in the reflection of the car window silently as it burned. 

Once he was sure the car was burning well, he turned around and walked quickly through the deserted streets, disappearing into the city proper just as the sun was rising on the horizon.


End file.
